Research Blog: Music Video Conventions

Hey everyone! How are you all?  have to admit, making a music video is a whole new experince for me, and I'm kind of clueless about it. However, I am soo ready for it! 

So a few days back, me and my awesome team decided to do some homework. We watched a bunch of music videos for this course. And let me be the first to tell you, it was quite entertaining. 

We also checked out some music videos in the contemporary R&B genre, which is the vibe of the song we've chosen. These videos are the ones I will be telling you all about. Now, let me break it down for you: Contemporary R&B is like a musical smoothie that blends rhythm and blues with a dash of pop, a sprinkle of soul, a pinch of funk, a scoop of hip hop, and just a hint of electronic vibes. It's got this chill and soulful groove with some seriously cool vocal arrangements.

Now, when it comes to music videos in this genre, they've got their own conventions or set of rules, you know what I mean? 

1. Song: Heartbreak Anniversary - Giveon

Camera and Mis en Scene: In this one, we were all about the feels. The song talks about the pain of leaving a relationship you thought was forever and still reminiscing about it. So, the video had a lot of black and white scenes to show those contrasting emotions. There were loads of close-up shots and those two-shots of the characters, and you could practically feel the sadness oozing from the screen. And don't even get me started on those over-the-shoulder shots during arguments – intense, right?

Editing: We also noticed that they played around with camera effects like low lighting, tracking shots, and zoom-ins to show the ups and downs in the relationship. After watching these vids, we were like, "Yep, we want some of that in our music video!"

Sound: In this music video there was a lot of diegetic sounds of dialogue between the characters that the audience could not hear. 

2. Song: Can We Talk - Tevin Campbell

Camera: Now, this one had a bit of a brighter vibe. They went all in with those close-up shots of Tevin Campbell and his love interest to make us feel their emotions. Lighting tricks, camera angles, and some romantic scenes – they had it all. Oh, and those fade-ins and outs? Totally added to the heartfelt emotions.

Mis en Scene: Fashion-wise, they took us back to the early '90s, showing off those trends. It was like a time machine, and it had us thinking, "Fashion inspo, anyone?" And let's not forget about the locations – city streets, parks – they had 'em all to keep things visually interesting.

Editing: The music video takes us through a story with the editing. It would go from narrative shots with Tevin to two shots with his romantic interest. 

Sound: In this music video there were scenes where Tevin would be having dialogue with his romantic interest. 

3. Song: Broken Clocks- SZA

For this one I'm going to make it short and simple since you get the common conventions by now.

Camera: 

- Cross cutting

- Cut away

Mis en Scene:

- Low lighting

- Camp costumes

- Camp site setting

Editing:

- Pans

- Tilts

- Tracking

- Zoom in/out

Sound:

- Diegetic

So, after watching these videos, my team and I are all pumped up. We've got a clear picture of the conventions we want to add to our music video. It's gonna be amazing, trust me!

That's all for this blog guys, till next time. 

Thanks for reading, 

- Mariajose :)